The Golden Mean

1 茫茫苦海回頭岸 Vast is the ocean of bitterness but always the shore upon turning back,
2 新人舊夢重演看 Performances of old dreams repeated with new cast for all to see.
3 昨日曾似枝上鳳 Seems like yesterday, on the highest bough is the phoenix perched,
4 嵗月無情髮滄滄Time passes unrelentingly and hair now in snowy white.

5 年華富貴盡無窮 Unending richness of youth,
6 春風醉意好時光 Springtime is here and is good to be in tipsiness.
7 青松傲笑天下人 Green pines sneering haughtily at the world of men,
8 古柏默哭紅塵嘆 And ancient cypresses in silent weeps, sighing at the mortal realm.

1 From the saying, 苦海無邊, 回頭是岸. “The Ocean of Bitterness is boundless, turning back is the shore”. The ocean refers to the ocean of humanity. If one repents, salvation is at hand. There are those who asked the question, if the ocean is boundless, how can there be a shore? If there is a shore, the ocean cannot be boundless. The answer is that one has to stand somewhere first and the boundlessness is relative to the sight of the one looking at the ocean. The land is salvation. In the Three Character Classic, the first line is 人之初, 性本善 – The beginnings of man, good is their nature. This means that it is the environment that changes our basic nature.

3 From the common expression, 野雞飛上枝頭變鳳凰 (The wild chicken flies to the top bough and turns into a phoenix) which derives from the couplet “舊巢共是銜泥燕, 飛上枝頭變鳳凰” – the swallow’s old home just mud next built with the mouth, the moment it flies to the bough, it turns into a phoenix. The phoenix is the queen of the birds and usually represent the empress. Thus the saying means, someone comes through his humble beginnings and is not meant to be flattering or congratulation.

6 The aged cannot enjoy things when one is young – from the viewpoint of the young urns who think not of the future. They are supermen now.

7 Pine trees symbolizes longevity. However, the use of 青, green here denotes the in betweens – from the viewpoint of that they thought that their accumulated knowledge is the ultimate truth.

8 Cypress is another symbolism for longevity. This time, 古, ancient is used for emphasis – from the viewpoint of those who really had lived to know better. That is, a balance life is most important – the Doctrine of the Mean, 中庸 .

Thursday, July 29, 2021